As Scotland's leading charity for children and adults with learning disabilities, we welcome the recent statement by Remploy that it intends to focus its resources on supporting people into open employment.
We appreciate that some people still think that disabled people can only work in factories staffed predominantly by other disabled people. We believe that this "sheltered workshop" model is outmoded and is not conducive to supporting people to live dignified and fulfilling lives. If we want to achieve social inclusion for disabled people, they should be in diverse and inclusive workplaces, not placed in isolation with other disabled people.
Enable Scotland has spent the past half-century campaigning tirelessly for people with learning disabilities to enjoy the same rights as everyone else. Each year we help several hundred people with learning disabilities to gain and stay in ordinary jobs. If we can do it, so can Remploy. Of course, organisations such as ours need to be resourced to do so. If each job achieved saves the state an average of £9k in benefits, surely it makes sense properly to support us to ensure that social inclusion moves beyond political rhetoric and becomes a reality.
Norman Dunning, Chief Executive, Enable Scotland, 7 Buchanan Street, Glasgow.
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